Castor: Hasten the removal of felons

Philadelphia Inquirer, The, January, 2006 by Jeff Shields

Two years after he first tried to kick a convicted felon out of local elected office, Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. said he would ask the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to streamline what he called a long and "farcical" process.

Castor spoke after a hearing before Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas Judge Thomas Branca, who is expected to decide in the next few weeks whether Conshohocken Borough Councilman Peter Cianci should be removed from office because of a 1993 felony drug conviction.

Whatever his decision, both Castor and Cianci attorney Frank Murphy said they would appeal the case directly to the Supreme Court.

"What the Supreme Court should do is take this case and use it as a vehicle to spell out this process," to speed up...